NaNoWriMo and Writing Programs

[Pinkie Pie]

That sounds neat! I like working a lot of my stuff into the same universe at different points on the timeline. Lot of long living characters and reincarnations I have to rework from stuff I wrote as a teenager, haha.

tbh I've just let most of the stuff I wrote from those years fade into obscurity. Some of the characters from then were retooled and used for other things, but most of them just exist in those points of time.

Honestly, my ~modern age~ writing takes place in that world far before whatever happened happened. Sometimes I've even made land mermish versions of a couple of the characters from that time >_>

[† Emotional Outlet]

Haha, I don't exactly have plethora of characters, even from a more prolific time. There's a specific set of characters I wrote about all the time in different settings and periods. The plotlines themselves I'm not interested in keeping because they don't all agree with each other (even if I factored in time travel), but that core group of characters I'd like to keep around.

I don't know if I'm going to recover all of my old NaNo attempts--one of them I would need to break apart into different stories because over thirty "main" characters is excessive for how foolishly ambitious I was, haha. And my short stories are likely going to remain in limbo, especially since none of those core characters show up in them. If they were named at all, haha. All that stuff was steeped in angst and social justice, so there's not much to actually recover. Just page after page of gay teenagers who cut themselves and hate everything. I think there's plenty of that in the world already.

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ETA: An article from the NaNo blog about the importance (or lack thereof) of winning NaNo. It's a quick read and references Zoolander.

Edited October 12, 2012 by Emotional Outlet

[Neolux]

This sounds like a fun idea! Iv'e always wanted to write a novel, and finally here is some motivation to follow through with it.

You can count me in!

EDIT: (For some reason I can't edit my previous post.)

I have been thinking about it for a bit, and I have decided that I don't want to participate in NaNoWriMo, for quite a few reasons. While I do want to write a novel, I don't think a timer will help when I am creating my first major writing piece. I would like to take my time, and write as I wish. Also, due to my current living circumstances, I can only write for about 4 nights per week, so I would be under even more pressure than I already would be due to homework and school.

I definitely want to do this competition, but not now, or for some time.

Thanks for sharing about it though, it's a great idea and I wish anyone participating the best of luck!

Edited October 23, 2012 by Emotional Outlet

[Pinkie Pie]

I'm starting to wonder how many people would be offended if my NaNoWriMo entry was a huge humanstuck au fanfic tbh

I mean come on, for the past two weeks I've been rping on skype as humanstuck Gamzee with a ton of my own headcanons in there too. It would be easy to write 50k words by myself using him since I've written over 100k words[ yep, i actually counted using Word] as him in the rps i'm in at the moment, which are long form paragraph rps that you'd see on a forum lmao

[† Emotional Outlet]

You can definitely write fan fiction for NaNo, haha. I think that'd be pretty neat. o u o

And Neolux, It's fine if you don't want to participate, but I would recommend reading a book called "No Plot? No Problem!" It's written by the man who started NaNoWriMo in 1999.

Basically, the concept that you need to take your time and write slowly may actually be hindering you, especially if you spend a lot of time editing and fussing over whether it's quality. NaNo has turned out books for many people, including Chris Baty himself. He tells of people who start out participating in NaNo, discover they really like the book they're writing, and decide to quit NaNo so they can take their time and give the book the attention they think it needs.

And they never finished those books or he just never hears from them again about it.

I'm not saying you NEED to do NaNo, but just don't fall into the trap of saying "one day I'll write a novel" and then end up never doing so because you want it to be absolutely perfect. There is such a thing as planning too much and feeling like you'll never able to live up to the amount of planning you've done. You can edit crap, but you can't edit nothing.

Additionally, your worries that you have no time may be misplaced, haha. Even if you can only write for 15 out of the 30 days in November, you only need to do a little over 3333 words a day. You can probably knock that out in two or three hours, depending how quickly you type--and if you carry a notebook or something with you when you go places, you can jot down paragraphs throughout the day and add those to your word count. People with full-time jobs, children, dinner to cook, and laundry to wash do NaNo every year. And a lot of people have done things like blaze through 10k to 20k words in a single day, pulling a last minute victory before the timer runs out.

If you have all day to write, one of the methods outlined in the book I mentioned is writing for thirty minutes, taking a ten minute break, writing for another thirty, taking another ten minute break, and writing for a final thirty minute block. Then you can just do whatever--go eat, watch a movie. Come back to your novel and do the same thing--write for thirty, break for ten, &c. Get up a little earlier in the day and write a couple hundred words. Keep a notepad by your bed so you can jot down thoughts. If you really sit down and think about it, you'll find all kinds of pockets of time you can use to be writing.

If you write constantly, feel comfortable that you can create a novel on time and stick to your own personal deadline, then by all means! You've got way more agency than I do and you're probably already writing for a living anyway, making everything I just said irrelevant. If you're not, though, don't underestimate the value of a deadline and the benefit of being able to write without worrying about quality.

[Pinkie Pie]

ty o////o;;

I'd post it here but it'd be shippy as fuck with a generous handful of porn in there XD It's too bad I can't get an AO3 since it'd be perfect for a place like that u wu

[Neolux]

You can definitely write fan fiction for NaNo, haha. I think that'd be pretty neat. o u o

And Neolux, It's fine if you don't want to participate, but I would recommend reading a book called "No Plot? No Problem!" It's written by the man who started NaNoWriMo in 1999.

Basically, the concept that you need to take your time and write slowly may actually be hindering you, especially if you spend a lot of time editing and fussing over whether it's quality. NaNo has turned out books for many people, including Chris Baty himself. He tells of people who start out participating in NaNo, discover they really like the book they're writing, and decide to quit NaNo so they can take their time and give the book the attention they think it needs.

And they never finished those books or he just never hears from them again about it.

I'm not saying you NEED to do NaNo, but just don't fall into the trap of saying "one day I'll write a novel" and then end up never doing so because you want it to be absolutely perfect. There is such a thing as planning too much and feeling like you'll never able to live up to the amount of planning you've done. You can edit crap, but you can't edit nothing.

Additionally, your worries that you have no time may be misplaced, haha. Even if you can only write for 15 out of the 30 days in November, you only need to do a little over 3333 words a day. You can probably knock that out in two or three hours, depending how quickly you type--and if you carry a notebook or something with you when you go places, you can jot down paragraphs throughout the day and add those to your word count. People with full-time jobs, children, dinner to cook, and laundry to wash do NaNo every year. And a lot of people have done things like blaze through 10k to 20k words in a single day, pulling a last minute victory before the timer runs out.

If you have all day to write, one of the methods outlined in the book I mentioned is writing for thirty minutes, taking a ten minute break, writing for another thirty, taking another ten minute break, and writing for a final thirty minute block. Then you can just do whatever--go eat, watch a movie. Come back to your novel and do the same thing--write for thirty, break for ten, &c. Get up a little earlier in the day and write a couple hundred words. Keep a notepad by your bed so you can jot down thoughts. If you really sit down and think about it, you'll find all kinds of pockets of time you can use to be writing.

If you write constantly, feel comfortable that you can create a novel on time and stick to your own personal deadline, then by all means! You've got way more agency than I do and you're probably already writing for a living anyway, making everything I just said irrelevant. If you're not, though, don't underestimate the value of a deadline and the benefit of being able to write without worrying about quality.

That's a very interesting concept, how my slow approach might actually be hindering my writing. I'll be sure to check that book out!

While it may be true that my slow style of writing is hurting the quality of my work, I still don't think that a timed writing contest is for me... at least not yet.

You think i'm writing for a living? Wow, I can't tell you how much of a compliment to me that is. Unfortunately, i'm far to young to be at an age where people consider one able to truly live on his/her own, or even write something of quality.

While I don't aspire to write for a living, (Actually I would like to work in computer forensics for the FBI.), I do have a unique passion for writing, and I would like to do it as an activity on the side.

I will definitely use your tips on writing for when I am writing my novel (Which I already have plans for), I already have allocated about 30 minutes before I need to wake up for meditation, so I can just add a few minutes onto that, and it wont be a big deal. It sounds like a great idea to jot down those ideas that just float about in your head but never make it onto paper.

I like the 30 minute writing block idea, again, it seems like a great way to get past my mind's taciturn halt and back into the roll of brainstorming.

You sound like such a great writer, i'd love to read some of your works. Thanks for helping a writer n00b like me; it means a lot!

Edited October 24, 2012 by Neolux

[† Emotional Outlet]

Haha, I just mention it because giving tips on time management would be pretty stupid if you already have your own recipe for success!

The book is a huge motivator for a lot of people, including me, and even if you don't partake in NaNo, what Baty has to say in the book is invaluable. His advice isn't comprised of empty platitudes--one of my favourite lines goes something like, "Don't aim to write the next bestseller--aim for to write something that won't make people vomit". I've got an official NaNo poster on my wall next to my desktop with similar motivating lines.

And I'm not much of a writer, haha. (I need to eat more brains for that.) It's pretty much the only creative thing I'm capable of doing with any sort of skill. I've got a couple works posted here if you want to check them out. The subject of my NaNo entry is hopefully going to result in me finishing Plate 39--I've been putting it off for long enough.

I don't know how old you are, but you seem to suggest that the Young Writers Program might be of use to you.

[Neolux]

Haha, I just mention it because giving tips on time management would be pretty stupid if you already have your own recipe for success!

The book is a huge motivator for a lot of people, including me, and even if you don't partake in NaNo, what Baty has to say in the book is invaluable. His advice isn't comprised of empty platitudes--one of my favourite lines goes something like, "Don't aim to write the next bestseller--aim for to write something that won't make people vomit". I've got an official NaNo poster on my wall next to my desktop with similar motivating lines.

And I'm not much of a writer, haha. (I need to eat more brains for that.) It's pretty much the only creative thing I'm capable of doing with any sort of skill. I've got a couple works posted here if you want to check them out. The subject of my NaNo entry is hopefully going to result in me finishing Plate 39--I've been putting it off for long enough.

I don't know how old you are, but you seem to suggest that the Young Writers Program might be of use to you.

Yeah! The Young Writers Program is definitely of interest to me, just not this round due to circumstances.

I'll go check out some of your stuff, thanks!